330 The Study of Zoélogy in Germany. [June, 
neighboring forests, and as the wild turkey has been driven back 
by the settlement of the country, the domestic turkey has gradu- 
ally lost the markings which told of the presence of the.wild, 
though judicious breeding has preserved and rendered more or 
less constant some of this evidence in what is called the domestic 
bronze turkey; and the more these evidences are preserved in 
the bronze turkey, as the red leg and the tawny shade dashed 
upon the white terminals of the tail feathers and the tail coverts, 
the better should the stock be considered, because it is the more 
like its wild ancestor. 
That the domestic turkey in its neighborhood may be de- 
scended from or largely interbred with the wild turkey of New 
Mexico, which in its wild state more resembles the common do- 
mestic turkey than our wild turkey does, may unquestionably be 
true, and it may be also true that the wild turkey there has a 
large infusion of the tame blood, for it is well known that not 
only our domestic turkey, but even our barn-yard fowls relapse to 
the wild state in a single generation when they are reared in the 
woods and entirely away from the influence of man, gradually 
assuming uniform and constant colorings. But I will not discuss 
the question whether the Mexican wild turkey is of a different 
species from ours or merely a variety of the same species, only 
with differences in color which have arisen from accidental causes, 
and certainly I will not question that the Mexican turkey is the 
parent of many domestic turkeys, but I cannot resist the conclu- 
sion that our wild turkey is the progenitor of our domestic turkey. 
Indeed, we know that this is so to a very large extent, from their 
constant interbreeding along our frontiers, and I never heard of 
any one who had wild blood in his flock who did not think he had 
as good domestic turkeys as any one else. 
THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY IN GERMANY. 
BY CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT. 
I. THE LABORATORIES. 
AVING had somewhat extended opportunities for seeing vari- 
ous laboratories in Germany, and for working in some of them, 
the writer became much impressed by the great advantages they 
offer; and as they are at once training-schools and the scene of 
active original research, it seems appropriate to begin by somè 
account of them. 
